'He left you very specially in my charge,' she said, 'because you've been so ill. He asked me to keep you if I could till some one came to fetch you home. There is a message just come through to say Sir Jasper Fotheringham will be here at noon in time to take you to——'
'Oh, will it be so soon?'
'It must, you see there are so many,' and her face grew very tired. 'So, will you let me take care of you till then? See if you can rest.' Presently when she went away, God gave me His great gift of tears.
When she came again, I asked for Sam, and, sitting down beside me on the couch, she said,—
'I hardly know how to tell you, but just at dawn he died. He had been very ill all night and wandering in his mind, and suddenly he called, 'Quite ready, Master Ross,' and—passed.'
But, not alone. Who dares to say that such a thing was chance, that such a perfect happening was mere coincidence? I think his faithful heart answered his earthly master's call, and the two walked up the starry way together, with that sweet and gracious Presence in between.
Just before Uncle Jasper arrived the sister asked me if I would like to see one of Ross's men. So the sergeant came of whom I had often heard; he was very broken up. I asked him to tell me anything he could about the end. I will try and put it down in his own words.
'We all knew how devoted Brown was to the captain. We didn't exactly hate him ourselves, ma'am, but he was Brown's own personal property, according to his view. He never would accept promotion as he wanted to go on being his servant, and there was always trouble if any one wanted to have a hand at cleaning up the captain's things or making him a bit more comfortable, if you can be comfortable in hell, if you'll excuse the word, ma'am. We used to call him Brown's Archbishop, if you'll not think it a liberty for me to name it, ma'am?'
'Go on,' I said, 'I love to hear it.'
'Well, we was in a trench that night, with orders to hold on no matter what it cost. The Germans got the range and we was pretty well wiped out before they rushed it. We was all dead beat and wore out for want of sleep. After they had rushed it, Captain Fotheringham got some of the wounded and the last remaining men, only five, I think, together where the trench was narrowest, and he told us again what the orders was, and how we must still hold on, as time was everything, and that if we could even now keep them back a bit the reliefs might come up and so save a lot of lives. I could see he thought we hadn't got a dog's chance by the kindness in his face. He put us men behind him, me next to him, in case he fell, so that I could take command, and the two corporals behind me, and Brown, being the only private, was at the back, the last. We waited, we could hear the Huns coming down the trench, doing their devil's work they was, killing the wounded as they lay. Suddenly Brown pushed past me and the others and went and stood in front of Captain Fotheringham.